Students compete in marathon
24-hour challenge set by the European Commission

One hundred secondary school students from 25 countries
are in Brussels today to compete in a marathon 24-hour challenge for which they
must find creative solutions. The unique event is organised in the framework of
the European Year of Creativity and Innovation 2009.

In a letter sent today, the
European Commission calls on the Lithuanian regulatory authority for
telecommunications, the Ryšių reguliavimo tarnyba (RRT), to impose
appropriate price control and access obligations on all communication providers
regarding their fixed termination services. Fixed termination rates (FTRs) are
the wholesale prices which fixed operators charge for terminating calls on their
respective networks. FTRs in Lithuania are amongst the highest in the EU. A
higher reduction of FTRs would speed up the transition to the approach set out
in the Commission's Recommendation on Termination Rates (IP/09/710), according
to which FTRs should be set in all Member States at the level of the cost of an
efficient operator by 31 December 2012. In addition, the Commission urged RRT to
ensure that termination services are provided on fair and equal conditions to
all operators and therefore requested RRT to also consider imposing
non-discrimination and transparency obligations on alternative providers.

Rural development: latest
approvals of proposals for using funding from CAP Health Check and European
Economic Recovery Plan

The Rural
Development Committee approved a second wave of proposals from Member
States/regions for using EU Recovery Plan and CAP Health Check funding for
addressing through rural development policy crucial issues such as fast EU
recovery from the economic crisis and climate change. This saw almost half of
the rural development programmes being already modified and ready to support
and/or re-enforce investments in broadband, climate change, renewable energies
and dairy restructuring. The decisions taken so far will put about € 1.6
billion of fresh EU money into the rural development budget of more than €
90 billion for the period 2007 - 2013. The remaining additional budget is to be
programmed in the following months.

Industrial new orders up by
1.5% in euro area

In September 2009
compared with August 2009, the euro area (EA16) industrial new orders index rose
by 1.5%. In August the index increased by 0.6%. In the EU271 new orders grew by
1.7% in September 2009, after an increase of 2.0% in August. Excluding ships,
railway & aerospace equipment4, for which changes tend to be more volatile,
industrial new orders fell by 1.2% in the euro area and by 0.6% in the EU27. In
September 2009 compared with September 2008, industrial new orders decreased by
16.5% in the euro area and by 16.4% in the EU27. Total industry excluding ships,
railway & aerospace equipment4 dropped by 18.2% and 17.5% respectively.
These estimates are released by Eurostat.

The
European Commission has granted clearance under the EU Merger Regulation to the
acquisition of sole control of GFKL Financial Services AG (GFKL) of Germany by
Advent International Corporation (Advent) of the US. Advent is a private equity
investor. GFKL is active in receivables management and software applications.
The operation was examined under the simplified merger review procedure.

State aid: Commission approves prolongation of Hungarian mortgage support
scheme for households affected by financial downturn

The
European Commission has authorised, under EC Treaty state aid rules, a six
months prolongation until 31.12.2010 of a Hungarian mortgage support scheme to
help households affected by the financial and economic downturn. The Commission
found that the extended measures, initially approved on 13.07.2009 (see
IP/09/1123), were aimed at well-defined objectives of common interest and well
designed to deliver these objectives and to limit distortions of competition.
The Commission has therefore concluded that they provide aid of a social
character to individuals, affected by a temporary income shock and at risk of
losing their home, on a non-discriminatory basis and as such are compatible with
Article 87(2)(a) of the EC Treaty.

2010 guide prices for fisheries products: decrease for most
products

The European Commission has adopted its annual proposal
on next year’s guide prices for fresh and frozen fisheries products as
well as the EU producer price for tuna for processing. The Commission proposes
to decrease guide prices for white fish and crustacean species, by between
–1 % and –6 %. The current economic crisis is strongly affecting
consumer demand for fisheries products in the EU. The decrease in demand has
resulted in dramatic drops in first-sale prices in the first half of 2009, in
particular for whitefish and crustacean species. On the other hand, the recent
price evolution for pelagic species and frozen products has been less negative.
For pelagic species there are increases for sardines and albacore (between 1 %
and 3 %) but decreases for herring, mackerel, Spanish mackerel and anchovies
(between –1 % and –4 %). For frozen products, the Commission
proposes upward adjustments of between 1 % and 2 % for hake and prawns and
decreases of between –1 % and –4 % for Greenland halibut, sea bream,
cuttlefish, octopus and squids. Finally, the Commission proposes to decrease the
EU producer price for yellowfin tuna by -4 % in the light of the recent
deterioration of the market for this product. The Commission proposals are based
on Member States' average market prices over the previous three years. Other
important factors also taken into account include trends in production and
market demand, the interests of consumers and the need to avoid withdrawals of
fisheries products from the market. For full details of the Commission's
proposal, see table at: http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/press_corner/press_releases/2009/com09_73_en.htm